Friday, September 2, 2016

Earlier this week, Land
Line Associate Editor Greg Grisolano called into question the mainstream
media’s coverage of a proposed
speed limiter mandate. CBS EveningNews covered the story without citing
any of the studies that show an increase in crash risk when split speeds occur.

This time, mainstream media has missed the mark regarding a
story about truck drivers and crashes. Fox
28 in Spokane, Wash., reported on Thursday, Sept. 1, that Washington State
University has planned a $1.4 million study to see if truck
drivers are getting enough sleep. The story opens with a statistic from the Centers for
Disease Control that says one out of every three truck drivers has reported
being in a serious crash.

There are so many problems with that opening statement it’s
difficult to know where to begin.

First, let’s start with the absurdity of the statistic. Does
anyone really believe that 33 percent of the nation’s truck drivers have been
involved in a serious crash?

Not surprisingly, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers
Association has evidence to refute that claim.

Some of my favorite Land
Line articles are about the history of trucking. For instance, I’ve learned
about Blue
Highways from Dave Sweetman, about the Red
Ball Express in World War II from Bill Hudgins, and about the nicknames
truckers used back in the day as recounted by Bob Martin.

This past February I was reading remembrances of OOIDA Board
Member “Wild
Bill” Rode. “He liked to remember the old ways and the old truck companies,
and he’d smile about Burma Shave signs, Green Stamps and the Monfort Lane.”

I had seen Burma Shave signs in the ‘50s and had pasted
Green Stamps in saver books in the ‘60s. But I’d never heard of Monfort except
in connection with the owners of the Colorado Rockies.

As the copy editor for our magazine, I check facts and
spelling all day long. So I looked up the Monfort Lane and was caught up in what
I read.

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Slow drivers, distracted drivers and generally bad drivers are people we typically blame for traffic congestion. A YouTube video published on Aug. 31 with 1.5 million views (as of press time) has a simple solution … that will never work.

The video starts by pointing out the various factors that slow down traffic, including intersections and the slow chain reaction involved with red-to-green traffic light movement and braking vehicles on the highway. Really, it makes perfect sense.

How do we solve these problems? According to the video, by changing human behavior. To be fair, the video quickly dismissed this idea as implausible as we would need 100 percent participation. Instead, it suggests we use a more practical solution: a “structurally systematized solution.”

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Perhaps you saw the piece on last night’s CBS Evening News about the speed limiter mandate? According to Jon Osburn, the skipper of OOIDA’s Spirit of the American Trucker tour truck, the folks who came by and paid him a visit at the Petro in Clearwater, Minn., sure did, and they weren’t exactly thrilled by what they saw. Which is understandable, since (based on what we’ve been hearing from members) the proposed speed limiter mandate is virtually unanimously despised by those who have to drive trucks, and by many of us who share the roads with them.

Here’s the report:

When the news agency tweeted out links to the teaser video last night, OOIDA responded with a friendly reminder that the proposed mandate will make highways less safe, and that all traffic should move at the same relative speed.

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Voters in one Oklahoma locale decided this week whether to
impose a new sales tax to maintain and construct streets, roads, bridges and
drains.

The proposed half-cent tax on the city of Poteau’s primary ballot was defeated.
Final tally: 190 in favor and 190 in opposition. That’s right. The community of
about 8,600 residents was equally divided on the issue.

Well, all we can do is assume residents of the community located south of
Interstate 40 near the Oklahoma-Arkansas line was equally divided on the issue.
A scant 17 percent, or 380 people, of the town’s reported 6,729 registered
voters bothered to cast ballots on the issue.

There is a very good chance a wider turnout would have proved to be the
difference one way or the other.

The ballot result this week got me to thinking about a magazine article I did
years ago titled “The Power of One.” It attempted to communicate the importance
of taking the time to get registered, and casting a ballot, whether by
absentee, early voting, or on Election Day.

Monday, August 29, 2016

When I was in my early 20s, a friend and I traveled from
Kansas to Florida to visit a mutual friend from high school. After arriving at
the airport, we rented a car and headed down the highway about an hour to our
friend’s house.

After about five minutes on the road, I became very confused
after seeing what I believed to be a 40 mph speed limit sign. It was a
four-lane highway, and we weren’t in a construction zone.

Still perplexed, I turned to my friend and asked, “What’s
the speed limit?” He replied, “I don’t know. It has to be 65 or 70, right?”

I told him that I thought I saw a speed limit sign that said
40 mph. “There’s no way that’s right,” he replied. Having taken into account
the flow of traffic, we agreed that I must have been mistaken.

However, I kept a keen eye out for the next speed limit
sign. Sure enough, the next sign displayed “40” in big font. But what I missed
the first time was that underneath the number was the word “minimum.” Shortly
after, there was another sign that read, “Speed limit 65.”

My friend and I had never witnessed stand-alone minimum
speed traffic signs before. It seemed as if Florida authorities were attempting
to enforce the minimum speed just as much as the maximum.

Being an inquisitive person, I asked as many Florida
residents as I could about this weird phenomenon. The answer was the same every
time.

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